If you’ve been watching U.S. financial markets the last few weeks you may have come to the conclusion that something is amiss and that there exists a major disconnect between what’s happening on Wall Street and what average Americans are experiencing on Main Street.

While analysts and experts point to the stock market as a sign of economic stability, today’s massive downswing should make it clear that the system is anything but stable.

The economy, the financial markets, and the U.S. monetary system are in uncharted waters, and as was noted yesterday after the Fed’s FOMC announcement, there is no way out of this mess[2].

The Federal Reserve and the US Treasury have taken it upon themselves to save us, but their plan seems to be disintegrating right before our eyes.

According to former Congressman Ron Paul, it could get much worse with far reaching ramifications across the whole of the U.S. and global economies. At this rate, if we continue on our current trajectory of monetary expansion, it is only a matter of time before the US dollar buckles. And when it does, it’s going to create widespread disturbances in pricing and valuation models across the entire sphere of investments, goods and services.

The long-term is something you can get a handle on.

The short-term… I was never very good on short-term, whether it’s the stock market or what government will do. It’s just all over the place.

I think if you look at the record of the value of the dollar since the Fed’s been in existence, we have about a 2 cent dollar. You know, gold used to be $20 an ounce, so I would say the record is rather clear on the side of commodity money.

History is on our side… 6,000 years of history shows that it maintains value and paper always self destructs.

I would say, long-term, as long as we have excessive spending and excessive computerized money, you’re going to see gold go up… and it [gold] could go to infinity because the dollar could collapse totally.

To be clear, Ron Paul isn’t just talking about the price of gold going to infinity.

In the event of a collapse of the U.S. dollar we’re going to see the price of all commodities go to infinity. Any physical asset of actual value is going to go to ‘infinity’ as it relates to the US dollar. Zimbabwe is a recent example, where the price of a loaf of bread literally reached over a trillion ‘dollars,’ when just a few years before it cost a couple Zimbabwe bucks.

This is why precious metals[6] have been in such high demand[7] lately. This is why emergency food distributors ran out of food[8] recently. And this is why the price of ammunition and rifles has gone through the roof.

It is an issue of confidence.

Confidence in the fair functioning of financial markets. Confidence in our central bank’s directives to maintain a stable currency. Confidence that our political system will operate within the rule of law.

It should be obvious by recent market gyrations and panic buying of certain commodity goods that confidence among the American public is being lost.

Once it takes hold, and disruptions to our system of commerce[9] become evident to the general public, we will witness a never before seen panic from sea to shining sea as Americans fight for anything worth something.

It’s coming, whether you believe it or not. And it’s better to be a year, month or day early, then a minute late.